Obs. exc. dial. Also 1 læfer, leb(e)r, 5 levre. [OE. læfer.] (See quot. 1879.)
c. 725. Corpus Gloss., 1823. Scirpea, eorisc, leber.
c. 1000. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 278/29. Scirpia [read Scirpea], læfer.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Voc., ibid. 138/30. Pirus, gladiolus, læfer.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 382. Genim læfre neoðowearde.
c. 1450. Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.), 72. Gladiolus,… gallice glaiol, anglice leure.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. xli. 199. The wilde yellow Iris is now called … in English Lauers or Leuers.
1879. Britten & Holland, Plant-n., 304. Levers,… a name applied by Lyte … to Iris Pseudacorus, L.; but bestowed on ‘any sword-bladed plant.’
